A young woman who was told she just a 20 percent chance of survival following a shock diagnosis is set to heart her childhood sweetheart this summer thanks to a life-saving heart transplant.
Charlotte Carney, 25, was accused of being lazy throughout her teenage years due to her constant need to nap.
But following a chance screening in October 2016, the account manager discovered her severe fatigue was a symptom of restrictive cardiomyopathy - an incurable condition that means her heart doesn't beat properly.
Doctors told devastated Charlotte that she had just a 20 per cent chance of living for more than two years if she didn't receive a new heart, Manchester Evening News reports.
She was added to the transplant list by February 2018 and later that very month was raced to Manchester Evening News reports for a 10 hour transplant surgery - after which she spent seven days in a coma.
Charlotte, from Northwich, in Cheshire, has now graduated from university and plans to marry her fiancé, football analyst Ciaran Hughes, 26, in Tuscany, Italy, in August.
"It’s been brilliant, to go from such a dark place to where I am now - getting married to the love of my life,” she says.
"If I’m ever having a rough day, I remind myself I’m doing all right as I’m still here."
When Charlotte started studying forensic psychology and criminal justice at Liverpool John Moores University, she realised something was wrong, as she struggled to walk even five minutes into campus.
She missed most of her classes in her first year.
"I had always been active,” she says.
“I did ballet and later I went to the gym. I just thought I loved to sleep, which I still do today.
“I used to nap a lot, but at university I couldn’t even walk up the hill to go to my classes.
“My heart was beating mega fast and I would be exhausted and out of breath from a five minute walk.”
Charlotte also started having chest pains and found it increasingly difficult to attend lectures.
Barely meeting anyone, as she was too tired to go out, she said: “Even I started to think I was lazy, as I couldn’t commit to the classes.
“I still went to the gym, so I didn’t understand why I couldn’t make it up the hill without struggling.
“It was so difficult. I didn’t bond with anyone at university, because I couldn’t even follow people to classes, which made me feel embarrassed.
“When I started uni, I was looking forward to it. I thought I was going to make so many friends, but I didn’t meet anyone while I was there.
“I missed events, so I didn’t spend much time with people, which wasn’t easy as I’m a sociable person.”
Plagued by breathlessness and even struggling to get to the shops near her home, she saw her GP on two separate occasions, who suspected her symptoms resulted from the stress of her course.
Charlotte said: "I had been to the doctors because I got so breathless.
“I had a chest x-ray to check for any infection. But I went on other occasions to say I was exhausted and couldn’t get through a day.
“But I don't think they made the connection and I, too, started to believe I was just stressed about university and that’s why I was tired.”
In the summer of 2016, Charlotte and Ciaran went on holiday to Barcelona.
But the frequency of Charlotte's naps meant they could not enjoy the sights or even dinner without her needing to doze off.
She said: "When we went to Barcelona in the summer of 2016, it was quite scary as I knew something was wrong.
"I was incredibly out of breath, had chest pains. I had to sleep in the middle of the day, then again before dinner.
"I didn’t live with Ciaran at the time, but he said it wasn’t normal."
By chance, back home, her friend Debbie Dixon was running a charity screening on behalf of Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY), not far from their home, where she had a check-up which immediately raised concerns.
Charlotte said: "At that point, some days I’d be fine, some I wouldn't be. So, on the good days, I’d forget about it.
"But my mum asked me to go to the screening, just in case.
"So, I did and they said they would do another check and refer me to a cardiologist, but they were really vague and chilled."
Still not suspecting anything life-threatening, Charlotte - who thought she was asthmatic for a decade before her diagnosis and used an inhaler - went to the Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital for a check feeling relaxed.
It was October 2016 when she had an echocardiogram (ECG) to monitor her heart, as well as CT scans, x-rays, MRIs, and more than 100 blood tests.
And she was barely able to process her diagnosis when cardiologists told her that she had the "incredibly rare" condition restrictive cardiomyopathy.
Affecting around 7,000 people in the UK, according to the charity Cardiomyopathy UK, it means the heart cannot fill up properly with blood. It results in reduced blood flow from the heart and can lead to symptoms of heart failure, such as breathlessness, tiredness and heart rhythm problems.
Charlotte was overwhelmed.
She said: "At the time I was in my own little world, I was just focused on my exams.
"But in the background, I would be getting taxis to hospital.
"I just tried to get on with it in a logical manner and pretend it wasn’t really happening.
"The first time it really hit me that it was bad was when the doctor rang me while I was in uni and told me I had a clot and needed to buy blood thinners from Boots."
Due to her deteriorating condition, Charlotte made the decision to quit her job working at a Vodafone shop in Liverpool city centre at Christmas in 2016 and move back with her mum Julie Carney, 56, a carer, in Northwich.
Told in January 2017 that there was no cure for her condition, the terrifying reality of her situation hit her.
Charlotte said: "It was all a bit hard to navigate at 20.
"I remember having an appointment in January and they told me it was restrictive cardiomyopathy, which has no cure."
In August 2017, Charlotte was asked to go to Wythenshawe Hospital - one of five heart transplant hospitals in the UK - to meet the team who would potentially save her life.
Following an exercise test, where patients are asked to run on a treadmill until their heart cannot take any more, in order to register how well it functions, Charlotte's results were far worse than they had anticipated.
Her cardiac output, or how well her heart can pump blood, went down from 63 per cent of the normal level - already low - to just 41 per cent.
Charlotte added: "They told me they couldn’t guarantee a good outcome.
"I would need a life-saving operation, not treatment.
"They set the scene, saying that people had complications from transplants, so even if I had one, life wouldn’t necessarily be great.
"When I did have one, it all happened so fast, which was a good thing because I don’t think we realised just how poorly I was."
By February 2018, Charlotte was on a waiting list for a heart transplant, but was terrified and suffering with sleepless nights.
She said: "I tried to block it all out, but I could never lie on my back because I couldn’t breathe due to liquids in my chest.
"I had nights where I thought something might happen in the night, but there were times where it would bubble over."
The idea that someone had to die in order for her to have a chance at life took a huge mental toll on her.
She said: "You have to wait until someone passes away and know consent has been given for organ donation, then they rush you to hospital.
"They were always going to pass away sadly, though, and this was a silver lining that I got to be saved.
"I think that’s why donor families agree to it."
On February 28, 2018, Charlotte appeared on ITV's This Morning campaigning for organ donation to be an opt-out system,
Just days later she went under the knife.
Recalling the moments she regained consciousness after seven days in a coma, she said: "The whole morning was a complete blur.
"My first memory was on day 7 but it’s still blurry. My dad just told me what day it was.
"I think it was a Tuesday when I went in, and he told me it was Monday, so I was so confused."
A few months after her successful operation, Charlotte moved in with Ciaran, who had become close to her mum and dad Tom Carney, 52, a car franchise director, during the many hours they spent supporting each other in hospital while she recovered.
Finally able to breathe again, while she was still in pain she says she had never felt so free.
"I went home and I was still in a lot of pain. I was walking but I was exhausted and still it felt better,” she says.
"My brain fog was gone. Even though I was in a worse state, I felt tons better.
"I knew I was exhausted from what happened, not from just from existing.
"I could breathe again."
In September 2018, Charlotte felt fit enough to start her third year of university and the following summer she graduated with a 2:1, which she says was the proudest moment of her life, after thinking she would have to quit.
She added: "It was so weird, I was living at home but I’d take the train at 8am to Liverpool and would walk all over the city centre - something I thought I'd never be able to do.
"I could finally concentrate. Life was so different. It made me realise how hard it was before.
"Graduating was a massive achievement, because I wanted to prove that I could do it.
"I was thinking of dropping out of university every three months, so it was amazing. It took me four years, but I never had a more exciting day than when I walked on that stage to graduate."
That summer would prove to be the best one in her young life, as after graduating she went to the Greek island of Crete with with Ciaran in July 2019, and just a month later he proposed to her at a pond in a park in Northwich on the housing estate where they had met in 2014.
She immediately said yes and will be getting married on August 2 this year in Tuscany, with 40 friends and family present.
Charlotte said: "I said yes immediately.
"He always joked I was fine when we met, but it all went downhill after - he’s been through it all with me.
"Having a transplant has helped me to put everything, even lockdown, into perspective.
"I’m so grateful for all the support I’ve had.
"And now I can celebrate everything with everyone I love. I always feel so much gratitude and excitement for life, even things like birthdays."
Charlotte said the support from Cardiomyopathy UK in the past four years have been invaluable, and her best pal Amy Toolis, 25, is taking on the Three Peaks Challenge to raise money for the charity.
You can donate here.
Don't miss the latest news from around Scotland and beyond - Sign up to our daily newsletter here.
